Monarch Crest Trail Ride

This past weekend we had the great pleasure of gathering a group of the faithful and doing a double whammy of riding the sweet single track of the Monarch Crest Trail on Saturday followed by the beautiful hike to the summit of Colorado’s 2nd highest peak, Mt. Massive.

The UpaDowna Facebook group organized the trips and managed to get about 10 folks out for the ride and just over a dozen on the Massive ascent. For the ride we were fortunate enough to have a great group of riders with ability levels ranging from weekend warriors to daily hammers. I can’t think of a better way to share a great ride than with a diverse group of passionate individuals.We were also fortunate to score a sweet camp spot on a creek in the San Isabel national forest where there was plenty of room for our tents as well as tons of exploring in the riparian ecosystem.

For more on this particular ride read up on Mapped Trails blog or for the preride info check out this post. I will say that the nicest thing about this ride is that we each brought something to the table and by the end of the ride we had all had our hand in fixing mechanicals or patching tires, and nothing builds camaraderie like pain!!

After the great night camping on Friday and the ride on Saturday we headed into Salida, CO for the world famous Moonlight pizza experience before heading up to Leadville, CO to camp and prep for the summit bid on Sunday.

More on the Mt Massive trip HERE!!

Be sure and check out Rex’s write up!